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Rats of the sky? Pigeons are often the target of human ire, but there's a lot to cherish – or at least appreciate – in these scrappy survivors

Dog harnesses are sometimes claimed to reduce pulling forces on the leash, but an experiment found they have the opposite effect

People in multiple US states tested positive for bird flu this year, raising concerns about the pandemic potential of the virus

The electricity required to support AI could contribute to approximately 600,000 asthma cases and create a $20 billion public health burden by 2030

For millennia, Arctic ecosystems have stored more carbon dioxide than they release, but that has shifted as warming temperatures have boosted wildfires and melted permafrost in the north

Atoms cooled to near absolute zero let researchers make a measurement of gravity 20 per cent more precise than the standard quantum limit usually allows

The ocean carbon sink – which removes about a quarter of our emissions from the atmosphere each year – was much weaker than expected in 2023

Dog owners often wonder what's really going on between their pets' fluffy ears. Now, savvy experiments and new technology are finally giving us a clearer glimpse

Leading archaeologists share the biggest recent advances in our understanding of human evolution, and their hopes for the exciting finds the next five years may have in store

Many ancient board games have been discovered, but there are no rulebooks so we don't know how to play them. Now AI is bringing these games back to life by working out likely rules

Google has unveiled a new quantum computer called Willow that excels at a benchmarking problem, but it still isn't clear whether these machines can serve a practical purpose

Google has unveiled a new quantum computer that excels at a benchmarking problem, but it still isn't clear whether these machines can serve a practical purpose

Higher or lower levels of certain proteins in your blood appear to indicate if your brain's age is older than your actual age

The moving sofa problem, which involves negotiating furniture around an awkward hallway, has puzzled mathematicians for decades – but now we have an answer

You might expect a child's belief in Santa Claus – with his ability to discern whether children have been naughty or nice – would have an impact on their behaviour. But it turns out other festive trappings like Christmas jumpers and carols may play a more important role

A technology that packs more optical fibre connections onto chips could let them transmit 80 times as much information, speeding up AI training and slashing data centre energy costs

In a surprise discovery, researchers found a new way to generate quantum entanglement for particles of light, which could make building quantum information networks easier

A resurgence of the screwworm parasite in Central America could have a devastating impact on livestock farming, and poses a threat to humans and wildlife too

As the Arctic ground thaws due to climate change, trees are struggling to stay upright – and this slows their growth and makes them store less carbon

It may sound strange, but mathematicians have created an entire ladder of infinities, each larger than the next. Now a new kind of infinity threatens to upset that order, and perhaps redefine the structure of the mathematical universe